Please Don’t Come To The Villainess’ Stationery Store! - Chapter 38

‘Princess Melissa… she must be hurt, right? She’s a fragile child. How can I soothe her?’

No matter how much I hated Lenox, she’s Princess Melissa.

‘Melissa was born from an affair. She also knows that.’

If she listened to what her brother did, she would be hurt greatly.

While I was panicking and wondering what to do, Lenox, who seemed to be unable to grasp the situation, spoke casually.

“Melissa, don’t say such bad things. What do you mean bastard?”

“Princess Melissa, calm down.”

I smiled softly and also spoke to Princess Melissa.

I hated Lenox, but I didn’t want to use a child to get back at him. Kids should only listen to good things. But Melissa, who glanced at me, shouted loudly at her brother.

Her eyes were glaring.

“Don’t approach Miss Meldenique, you filthy cheating man!”

She clasped my hand with her small soft hands. It was as if the very small and thin girl was protecting me.

“Let’s go, Unni.”

“…yes?”

Melissa looked at me and cried.

“Don’t stay together with that trash, let’s leave together!”

We hadn’t known each other for a long time, but she seemed to feel sorry for me.

She was a righteous girl with a strong heart within her calmness, even though her personality wasn’t big.

‘No, Melissa… You don’t have to protect me to this extent…’

“Unni, don’t be hurt by that person!”

…can’t you see my face that has no scars, baby?

“Don’t look so calm while you’re feeling sad inside…”

“…huh?”

Was this a distortion of my true feelings?

“Melissa, that woman isn’t hurt-.”

I was about to agree with Lenox for the first time.

“Brother, no, Duke Lenox Hesman.”

She wasn’t the innocent child who looked at me. The eyes of the girl who was declaring to her brother were blazing.

“A dirty cheater like you doesn’t deserve to say that!”

There was no time to correct the situation at the moment.

Melissa shook my hand without budging and pulled me to the stationery store. It was a charisma unlike of a child.

I glanced at Lenox, who was bewildered by officially becoming a cheating man certified by his younger sister.

He was frozen on the spot, unable to repair his angry pupils.

Hey, Sman. I haven’t done anything yet, got it? I really didn’t plan anything. But things got this way, okay?
(T/N: sman is Hesman shortened, I think it’s supposed to sound like an enterprise, but I’m not sure.)

I really shouldn’t do this, but I felt the taste of sesame salt and jumped toward the stationery store holding Melissa’s hand.
(T/N: Sesame salt is an idiom to describe a really good relationship.)

We ran quickly and stood in front of the stationery store. Melissa shouted loudly, glancing at me as I opened the stationery store’s door.

“From now on, that bad guy… I’ll stop him from approaching you!”

I felt secure.

Looking at Lenox’s shocked expression from earlier, it really looked like he was never going to find me again.

To think it went like this. It’s like I blew my nose without touching it.

‘I should soothe Melissa’s wounded heart.’

I opened the stationery store looking down at Melissa, who was gasping a little. It was the extent that could be calmed down with something delicious.

“Come in first, Princess.”

That’s how the stationery store door opened with a ‘ta-da.’

But inside, Dominique, Cassian, Carat, and Axion were seen when only Dominique was expected.

…no, why are these people here? Besides, why are you avoiding my eyes?

In addition, there was a lot of slushy in the middle.

Grape flavor, orange flavor…

‘Did they come to eat slushies?’

I tried to introduce Melissa to those who had fallen into a slushy addiction without working.

But then the girl spoke with a huff.

“Unni! I will introduce you to a good h-husband. Don’t worry about it at all!”

“…what?”

Did I hear the bold voice of a small girl?

The expressions of the four men changed indescribably.

Melissa’s fierce eyes scattered the stationery store. As if she was checking the game. The men all hardened with different expressions. One with surprise, one with shock, one with wonder, and one with Dominique shock.

Melissa clenched her fist and focused once more.

“He needs to be the most handsome, he needs to be polite, and the coolest person ever! I-I’ll pick from here first!”

“Uh, so-.”

“I’ll start right now!”

Melissa was motivated.

As soon as Melissa and I sat down, the round table was cramped.

When I received the gazes of shock and horror mixed with curiosity and heat from the four men, my face was on the verge of singing. But the little Princess Melissa didn’t care about their eyes.

She took out her notebook and fountain pen out of her bag and began to investigate.

“Carat and Axion are too young, right?”

“…uh, that’s right?”

Are you really looking for a husband for me?

At my slightly puzzled answer, Melissa’s eyes glistened.

“So it’s the handsome man here and His Imperial Highness.”

Melissa folded her arms.

She looked at both Cassian and Dominique like a meticulous wedding planner.

Dominique, who received Melissa’s attention, suddenly spoke.

“…what are you talking about?”

“Just as I said, I’m finding a husband. Handsome, polite, cute, and a nice person who only likes Miss Meldenique.”

Oh, the conditions were perfect indeed. Even in the embarrassing situation, my head nodded.

“Being polite is cool. It’s the best value.”

Dominique, who was looking at me, hit back.

“Hm, as you know, I hear a lot that I’m on the polite side.”

“…really? You do?”

It’s my first time hearing this though.

Even though Dominique was good at cleaning and cooking… wasn’t he rather feisty and vicious?

Dominique spoke to me lowly.

“Why, you said being polite is good.”

‘This brat… you wanted to do everything that’s good?’

I had been feeling this for a while, but this sword, it’ll be trouble if kept as an enemy.

While I was admiring Dominique’s absorption faster than a sponge’s, Melissa began to write down in her personal notebook meticulously.

“Good. I will record that. What’s your name?”

“Call me Dominique.”

“Dom……in…ique.”

Princess Melissa wrote down the name of the pouty Dominique in her notebook.

No matter how hard I look at them, they seemed to be in perfect sync.

Melissa, who had been muttering other information while writing, looked up again. Her sharp eyes began to wander from place to place like a hyena’s.

Among the slushy family members gathered together at the round table, Carat opened his mouth first. His eyes were full of curiosity, but he asked chicly, as if he was indifferent to the situation. As a bonus, he put the cup of slushy away as if he was never interested in it.

“But, Melissa. Why are you suddenly looking for Mel’s husband? Just what is going on?”

“Carat. Listen. Something terrible happened.”

While I was confused whether to stop Melissa or not, she eventually spoke in a grim oratory tone.

“Listen, everyone. The marriage vows and engagement vows are beautiful institutions his Majesty has created, right?”

“And?”

“However, Duke Hesman dared to betray those beautiful vows.”

Calling him Duke Hesman. He’s your brother…

But we all began to listen to Melissa, fascinated by her solemnity.

Cassian spoke out.

“What does that mean, Princess Melissa.”

“Duke Hesman of my family ignored his engagement and had an affair. He had an affair with the younger sister of the kindhearted Miss Meldenique. He even said a mental affair is not an affair. A cheater did.”

If Lenox were here, his bones would have been powdered. No, he already turned into powder when he heard from his younger sister that he was a bastard.

But that’s none of my business.

I listened to Melissa silently while taking a sip of the sweet slushy.

“So…”

The girl bit her lips again and soon stared at me. She spoke out again.

“Unni, can I say it?”

“Say what?”

“That guy’s brutality.”

He became ‘that guy’ now.

I was sure in Meldenique’s memories, Melissa called Duke Hesman ‘Brother.’

Now that it’s like this, I nodded for now. Lenox’s reputation descending was always delicious.

“He went on a trip with his fiancée’s sister. That’s not all. He shamelessly said he would take advantage of Miss Mel!”

“T-that’s true.”

Melissa whispered as if she felt sorry for me when she saw me wiping the sweat off my forehead.

“On top of that, as if the affair wasn’t enough! He’s trying to sabotage Miss Meldenique’s stationery store business!”

“He did build a big store in front of the academy to get in Meldenique’s way.”

“As expected of that bastard, I never liked him!”

Xion jumped up from his seat.

Carat also grated his teeth.

“…that bastard, is he human?”

Carat, isn’t he a commoner? Can he call a Duke bastard?

Dominique, who was silent, spoke quietly.

“I never liked him. I have to go kill him.”

“Dominique.”

I signaled at Dominique. The boy, who became gentle at once, nodded soon.

But he seemed to be grinding his teeth while muttering ‘we’ll see.’

Still, I calmed Dominique down…

Melissa’s white and plump hands tightly gripped my hand.

“The kind Unni did nothing wrong.”

“……?”

“I’ll work hard to promote the stationery store to our Academy kids so that you won’t lose to the cheating man!”

How come it seemed like when I lost Lenox, I gained a hot-blooded customer?

I smiled awkwardly and stroked Melissa’s head.

“A-And!”

Melissa clenched my hand and spoke in a grim tone.

“Now, I will find him for you. A good man!”

It seemed that Melissa had a small misunderstanding. When I recalled Meldenique’s evil deeds, sweat formed on my back.

‘Won’t she feel a great sense of betrayal when she finds out about the bad behavior later?’

“No, I didn’t exactly do anything good either…”

Melissa shook her head as she murmured for the future.

“The opponent cheated, how could the other be in their right mind. Unni can do anything.”

I don’t think Sman will have a hole to escape through in the future.